Jeffrey D. Hettinger's background in business was owning and operating a beverage company, Premium Beverage Packers, in Wyomissing.

In 2003, Hettinger and his wife, Michele K., entered the highly competitive restaurant market with their first offering, ViVA Good Life Restaurant and Lounge, Wyomissing, under the entity JMH Inc.

Then, in 2007, the Hettingers bought the former Casa Grande, Spring Township, which they renamed Toscani Wood-Fired Grill.

Now, 10 years into the Hettingers' culinary adventure, they have decided to take a back seat in the day-to-day managing of ViVA and Toscani and let a professional culinary team take the reins.

Toscani, which had been an Italian family restaurant, then open only for events and buffets, reopens Friday as a Tuscan restaurant with a revamped menu.

Hettinger purchased a wood-fire brick oven for Toscani to make hand-tossed artisan pizza and forcaccia bread. Between the kitchen upgrades at Toscani and the oven, the project cost about $250,000.

About 70 full- and part-time jobs will be added, he said.

The menu at ViVA will be changed to be more Euro-Mediterranean with French, Greek and a little Spanish influence, Hettinger said.

"I recognized that while I have an appreciation for fine food, my background is in soft drinks," Hettinger said. "I have a love for fine food, but I felt I was coming up short with not enough culinary experience.

"We have a lot of good restaurants in Berks County, and five or six are very, very good. I wanted to pick up the service and I wanted real talent and I found the talent."

The Hettingers will remain what he called primary owners, but with a managing partner, Felix Maietta. Hettinger would not elaborate on the terms or details of the partnership.

"First of all, Jeff Hettinger will no longer be involved in directly running the restaurants," Hettinger said.

Of the new arrangements, the overall corporate name is ViVA Good Life-Wyomissing Inc., trading as ViVA Restaurants and Catering Group.

Under that umbrella are three segments, ViVA Bistro and Lounge, Toscani Cafe and Bar and ViVA Catering, Hettinger said.

Maietta, a certified executive chef, will be in charge of the divisions. Stephen O'Donnell, a certified executive chef, and Michael Marriott, no relation to the Marriott hotel family, an experienced general manager, will join Maietta in this team.

Hettinger had room for up to 500 people at Green Valley Country Club, Lower Heidelberg Township, which he purchased in 2012. At Toscani, he can accommodate up to 300 banquet guests and 200 customers in the restaurant.

With Green Valley, he didn't need to use all of Toscani for banquets, he said.

Hettinger said one-third of his business comes from catering.

Steven Stetzler, president of the Berks-Schuylkill Chapter of the Pennsylvania Restaurants and Lodging Association, said he thinks that by Hettinger bringing in a professional team, he could be taking a page out of the chain restaurants' playbook.

"As much as local restaurant owners can't stand it, you can learn a lot from the franchises," Stetzler said. "They have more background knowledge, countrywide, and they know how a big operation runs."

Stetzler, owner of Deitsch Eck Restaurant, Lenhartsville, said he competes with Cracker Barrel every day.

"I think No. 1 is how the employees are trained," Stetzler said. "It's not always about the food. Customers know at Olive Garden some things come out of a bag, and it's not home cooking, but it is big on customer service and big on (pleasant) attitude with servers.

"And all the servers are trained the same at Cracker Barrel all over the country, and customers know what to expect and like it."

Jay Vaughan, Spring Township manager, said: "If the restaurant is going to be open on a regular day-to-day basis, it's a good thing. They always did good things in the past, and I see no reason to believe this won't be good."